Oct. 14, 2007

Xavier Invitational Final Results
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Daytona Beach, Fla. - Western Carolina advanced one spot from its opening day positioning, improving to seventh overall after shooting its tournament-low round of 303 Sunday in women's golf action at the Xavier Invitational held at the 6,225-yard Champions Course of the LPGA International. Sophomore Desiree Karlsson led the way for the Catamounts after shooting a three-day, 226 to finish tied for 11th overall in the 79-golfer field.

For Western, its score of 920 was the team's best 54-hole score this season and the 14th-best in school-history.

Florida Atlantic rallied from fourth to claim the team championship, edging first-round leader, Coastal Carolina, by three strokes after carding a tournament-low round of 295 on Sunday. The Owls finished with a three-round score of 906, three better than the Chanticleers in second at 909. Missouri State and the Chattanooga Lady Mocs finished tied for third one stroke in arrears at 910, followed by Lamar University in fifth at 913.

Despite slipping from the team title hunt, Coastal Carolina's Ann Maness claimed individual medalist honors finishing with a two-over par, 218. First round leader, Lamar's Linda Persson, finished just one stroke back in second at 219, followed by Florida Atlantic's June Bolme in third (221) and Georgetown's Chelsea Curtis and Lamar's Therese Nilsson tied for fourth with identical scores of 222.

Karlsson slipped one position on Sunday, falling from 10th on Saturday into a two-way tie for 11th at the conclusion of the second round. The Ljunghusen, Sweden native carded rounds of 79, 72 and a 75 on Sunday to lead the squad for a third-straight event. Karlsson's classmate, Elin Mickelsson, tied her career-best finish with an 18th-place showing, shooting 75, 79 and 75 to finish with a three-round score of 229. Mickelsson, who ranked third in the tournament in par 5 scoring (4.75, -3), finished with seven birdies to tie for sixth amongst all competitors.

Rounding out WCU's finishers were freshman Katja Dammann, who rebounded with a final round score of 76 to finish tied for 19th (230), followed by senior Kandy Carland (tied for 33rd, 235) and freshman Josefine Sundh (tied for 63rd, 248).

Playing as an individual, sophomore Tiffany Schisler posted her career-best finish with a three-round score of 247 to finish 62nd overall.

Western Carolina will conclude the fall portion of its schedule on October 29-30 at the Edwin Watts / Palmetto Intercollegiate - hosted by Southern Conference foe, the College of Charleston - at the Oak Point Links on Kiawah Island, S.C. Last year, Western rallied for a fourth-place finish with a 54-hole score of 900, marking both the best ever team finish and team score at the event. Karlsson led the Catamounts a year ago with a seven-over, 223, which placed her 12th overall.

Xavier Invitational Final Results

 1 Florida Atlantic     311 300 295 906 +42
 2 Coastal Carolina     298 296 315 909 +45
 3 Missouri State       306 304 300 910 +46
   Chattanooga          306 308 296 910 +46
 5 Lamar                305 301 307 913 +49
 6 Georgetown           306 306 305 917 +53
 7 Western Carolina  307 310 303 920 +56
 8 Northern Iowa        312 302 307 921 +57
 9 Xavier               313 321 301 935 +71
10 Western Michigan     315 306 316 937 +73
11 Florida Gulf Coast   309 310 319 938 +74
12 Wichita State        325 325 323 973 +109
13 Bowling Green State  317 326 334 977 +113
14 Ohio                 328 324 329 981 +117